Carbon-carbon composite materials may be made from fibrous materials such as carbon fibers or carbon fiber precursors. In the course of manufacturing the carbon-carbon composites, these fibrous materials are generally mixed with binders. One type of such carbon-carbon composites is made with chopped fibers mixed with pitch-based thermoplastic binder in powder form. The mixture is placed in a mold where it is compacted and heated to form a preform, and the resulting preform is carbonized by heating it. However, pitch-based thermoplastic binders tend to become liquid and to foam as the temperature increases during carbonization. This liquid phase pitch may run out of the preform during the carbonization process. In order to avoid foaming and run out, the preform is conventionally subjected to a lengthy oxidative stabilization process prior to carbonization.